SEROOSKERK
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date14 January 1934
Object number00041621
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
Dimensions83 x 108 x 2 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum collection
DescriptionThe Dutch cargo ship SEROOSKERK was photographed at No 3 Athol Bight on Sunday morning 14 January 1934. This image was captured from the 10.30am ferry travelling between Taronga and Circular Quay, Sydney.HistorySEROOSKERK was a Dutch cargo and passenger ship of 8,420 tons built in 1922 by New Waterway at Schiedam, Holland and called GEMMA. In 1931 it was renamed SEROOSKERK and owned by The Hague. While traveling from London to Calcutta in carrying general cargo and military supplies it sunk when hit by a torpedo from a German submarine - according to German sources on December 2nd 1942 and according to Lloyds War Losses on February 24th 1943.SignificanceThis photograph is part of the F G Wilkinson Photograph Collection, comprising more than 700 glass plate negatives of ships in Sydney Harbour between 1919 and 1936. The collection provides an extensive and well-documented coverage of the changing styles of shipping in the port of Sydney before the gradual decline of the coastal trade, and in a period which was probably the peak reached by commercial shipping in Australia. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.
